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My husband and are are younger 50s, well-travelled, quite active, and considering the March 13th 7-day out of St. Thomas. DH must be fairly busy most of the day to be happy - biking (he would love to get off ship and just take off biking for 40 miles), hiking, kayaking, snorkeling or diving would be top of his list. I understand about being flexible as to ports due to weather conditions, and the marina may or may not be put out. But by the end of the day, could he every day break a good sweat without visiting the gym? Are there several hours each day we could get off the ship so he could just go for a run if nothing else?

I'd say as long as you don't have any sea days, your husband should be able to get off the boat and run, swim, or bike to his heart's content. When we took our cruise, the activities director led hikes and bike trips just about every day.

If you are sure you want to go on a cruise, SD will be hard to beat in terms of visiting great small ports that your husband can be active in. When you visit a port that SD cannot dock in, you will find that you never have to wait more than a few minutes for a tender. It makes it very easy to slip off the yacht & go exploring - the bigger ships just don't offer the same degree of flexibility. The water toys are somewhat restricted due to local ordinances (they are usually out 2 to 3 times on a 7 day cruise), but you can always find something active to do on shore.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like we want a cruise. But there are many places on the itinerary we'd love to visit. The cruises we have loved have been the Temptress along the coast of Costa Rica, and the Paul Gauguin in French Polynesia - places where the ship is transportation (in the latter case, quite nice transportation, which we did enjoy), and you're visiting new places every day.

Not sure why you say you wouldn't want a cruise where you can get off the yacht every day. That's the great thing about SD - no at sea days -- it docks or starts tendering in pretty early and leaves late, so there's limited time on board if that's what you want. I'm sure you can take a bike off on the first tender and bring it back on the last tender if that's what you'd like to do . . . that's the flexibility of SD. (though with the traffic on some of the island - St. Thomas for one, I'd buy extra life insurance before leaving).